Larry Craig resigned his Senate seat today, as expected. Another one bites the dust. Not another prominent politician, not just another Republican. Another family values hypocrite. It's a long line, a very long line extending as far back as the GOP decided it was the judge, jury and arbiter of all our morals. Since the Republican Party wrapped itself in Fundamentalist Christianity, bigotry, and intolerance and transformed itself into the American Taliban. Yes, a long line of fallen hypocrites.
Of course the Republican Party has no more saints than the Democrats, no more sexual philanderers, no ban on gay and lesbian members, it just has the hypocrites. You see, if you're going to appoint yourselves the policemen of our bedrooms, our wombs, our morals, and render judgment on those, yours had better be above reproach. This is the real outrage over Craig, not the bathroom, not the lies, not even the macho power trip he tried to pull on the cop. It's about his homophobia and family values hypocrisy.
He's hardly been alone in his political sin. We have Ted Haggard, Don Sherwood, Mark Foley, Larry Craig, Bob Allen and a host of others. Running on a platform of family values and vilifying anyone you deem is unworthy, means you had better be a saint. There are very few saints among us. There are none in Washington. Let me be clear: you have no right to say what I do in the privacy of my home and bedroom and you have no right to determine what I do with my body. This includes women. You have no right to interfere with consensual sex among adults and you have no right to tell anyone what they can or cannot do sexually.
This is the ultimate right to privacy. The constitution is rife with issues of privacy. It is the underlying philosophy of the entire document. Saying the constitution isn't about privacy is like saying the Bible isn't about religion. We have inalienable rights to keep the government out of our bedrooms and wombs. Unless you are going to live your life as an absolute saint STFU.
Update: I found this article about the bad old days of growing up gay in even more intolerant times, the 1950's and 60's. It will give you a better understanding of why men like Larry Craig remain in the closet and why they furtively seek sex in places like airport bathrooms. Read on through (it's a long article) and you'll also understand why older men are so terrified of coming out. Of course it's all because of the evil cultural and religious influences which forced them into these closets. To learn more I suggest reading "Homophobia, A History" by Byrne Fone.
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